Semiconductor manufacturing processes utilize a wide variety of gases that are provided to processing equipment (e.g., cluster tool, process chamber, or the like) via gas delivery systems that are coupled to, or embedded, in the processing equipment. As semiconductor process recipes become more sophisticated, an increased number of process gases and varying ratios of process gases are required, therefore requiring the need for increasingly complex gas delivery systems. For example, the inventors have observed that in conventional gas delivery systems, for each process gas added to a process recipe, additional hardware (e.g. mass flow controller, gas conduits, valves and the like) needs to be added to the gas delivery system. Such additions increase the cost and size of the gas delivery system, thereby becoming a limiting factor in the design and implementation of processing equipment.
To reduce the cost and size of the gas delivery system, conventional gas delivery systems may utilize commercially available premixed gas supplies having a premixed amount of desired process gases. However, premixed gas supplies only provide a fixed mixture of process gases and, therefore, limit the amount of gas mixtures that may be provided.
Thus, the inventors have provided an improved gas delivery system and method of use thereof.